CF MRC

After some fairly steady and tricky work the station platforms for York Road are now sketched in.  The 100% accurate artwork for the tiles is courtesy of Douglas Rose, author of the superb and very rare ‘Tiles  of the Unexpected, Underground’. The patterns were printed on fairly stiff 250gsm silk-faced card.

The platform surface is currently unattached, just sitting passively in this photo.
 

The whole project is complicated by the compound horizontal curvature of the station platform and the tube structure itself. The main supports consist of 2mm MDF ribs cut using the Model Railway Club’s laser cutting facility: these are strategically attached to 0.8mm thick ply sub-base. 
Pip is guarding the board here: last time he worked on YR he was but a puppy. 
 

The tiled card was rolled on a soft cushion with a polished steel rod. It would probably have worked better with Piccadilly Line moquette, rather than Routemaster. 
The adverse curvature of the station platforms is accommodated by breaking the tile run either side of the crossway entrances. These entrance sections were touched in with a red marker pen to avoid unsightly dodgy edges.

The area above the dado was painted white, just in case there were any gaps showing between the card sections. 

The 700mm long fully tiled walls do look rather pretty (if I do say so myself) and bring a station back to life that closed 91 years ago. 

There is a lot more work to do…

Tim

And now for something a little bit different. When CF was last being erected Justin Colson took a few pictures of the various stages involved for setting up the main ring of baseboards. I don’t think anyone has shown how layouts get assembled on RMWeb, and if they have, it is very unlikely that they are as complex as CF. Many of you will have seen all this happening at shows; please forgive me if it’s a bit boring. So here goes, with a few comments along the way. 

The first part of the layout to be made was the north end and that is where setting up begins. There are four fiddle yard boards that get bolted together as a ‘C’ laying on their side. The leg boxes that these sit on can be seen in the foreground, the redlines show the baseboard joints.

This whole assembly is lifted onto the leg boxes which are set out at the correct distance using a length of string as a gauge (at Keen House there are marks on the floor.) The leg boxes also act as storage containers and have levelling feet at the bottom.

Here, Simon Humphries is demonstrating that all bolts are equal but some are more equal than others, with Rob Stewart looking on whimsically. Very occasionally a longer bolt will be needed in a particular joint - these ought to be marked - but where’s the fun in that?

The two front Holloway Bank boards are removed from their case and bolted together, whilst resting on their sides on the floor. Our 10mm bolts are a precise fit in 8” steel tubes in each board, ensuring reasonably reliable alignment and strength. The direction the bolt is inserted can be seen by the blue arrow. The second bolt is on the floor (green circle).

The whole of the HB front is then lifted onto the open gate legs and two bolts inserted at each end from underneath. At the south end the bolts both go in the same direction.

At the north end they go in opposite directions. Our next job will be to mark up bolt direction on the layout underside. Getting these bolts in place can be quite a struggle because the floor may not be level or flat.

Once the first ring is set up, the gates are taken away from supporting the layout and it is then precisely levelled, using a bespoke spirit level on known reference marks.

Once these four feet are adjusted to make the boards absolutely level, then the gate legs are moved back under the layout to give more support, taking up the level with their own feet (yellow arrow).

The next stage is to put in place the massive Belle Isle board. This travels in its own case and is quite tricky to handle. It also travels with the NLR link board which can be seen in the top left of the box. In order to lift it out of the box there is a massive truncheon-like rod which is screwed firmly into the framework (white arrow - it also has other ruder names) as well as a steel ‘bale hook’ that engages with a hole in the RH baseboard end. Two individuals then lift the board vertically in the box whilst another two move the box away from the board. It is then rested on its back face awaiting assembly.

Prior to lifting into place the three baseboard bolts and nut closers are laid out on the floor (green circles) whilst the fixing holes are show with blue arrows. For the first ten years of construction, this was more or less the full extent of the layout.

The longitudinal position of the leg box supporting this board is located by using the important piece of string with marks on it. A team of three-four people then lift this board into place, resting a lip onto the northern boards. Meanwhile, a brave soul goes underneath and slips in the long steel bolts and does up the nut closers. It is then levelled, paying attention to its level in the L & R as well as front to back directions.

It is important to check out the central baseboard joint for all alignments on the six GNR lines that cross it as well as the hidden NLR link board. Various ‘persuading’ instruments may be called in to play.

The pace of assembly now accelerates as the Belle Isle south board is daisy-chained on to the big board. This is just about supported by another leg box and fold-out gate leg. Again it is checked for level, against known reference points.

Going round the corner (into KX) we have the Sopwith board. Why that name? Well it looks like the tail plane of a Sopwith Camel aeroplane. It is bolted in two directions to the Belle Isle south board.

Levelling is, as always, critical.

The final behemoth baseboard that completes the ring is the 10’ x 2’ Big Fiddle Yard board. This is a four person lift and slips in north end first and then the south. There are precision joiners at the north end and it’s on the ‘to-do’ list for the south.

The final operational boards to be inserted are the NLR link board (and fiddle yard) and the KX Goods board which covers a large area and locks into place next to the NLR viaduct and has three precision dowel bolts locating it to the BFB. The ruler in this view shows a 6’ length for scale.

So there we have it. The shear size of CF makes it essential that it is assembled in a totally reliable and reproducible way. It is quite hard work to set up (MRC membership is cheaper than a gym) and maybe it’s now obvious why we only attend two shows a year. Of course, this is only about 2/3rds of the story as all the scenic sections, back scenes, ‘Toblerone’ lighting proscenium, barriers and other add-ons such as the tube are there to complete the scene. 

Apologies for the exceedingly long post and a self-administered pat on the back for anyone who got to the end…

Tim
 

As promised, construction has begun on the York Road tube platforms baseboard. This photo shows the board just resting in front of the tube station: in its final form it will be  below and centred on the lift shafts. 

The prototype track plan (courtesy LT Museum) was printed to size and stuck to some 4mm ply. This was then tried for position on the main layout and fixing hole positions determined.

The ply top was then framed with 12x21mm pine strip wood screwed & glued in place. An oak block was incorporated at the end where the next board joins on: decent wood is essential for holding baseboard joiners in a repeatable position. 

This was left overnight for the glue to set and then a lower skin of 4mm ply screwed and glued onto the pine wood frame. This I beam and stressed skin design makes the whole construction immensely rigid and pretty lightweight. 

The track base will be 46mm below the underside of the layout with a spacing rib 75mm deep fixed to the back edge. Quite interesting  really that this is the penultimate baseboard to be built for CF. 
 

The planning of the station platform itself is well advanced with laser cut ribs and completely accurate tile artwork already for fitting. 
 

Tim

I have been working on an old timer today - the GNR J13 that Mark Fielder made from an old Beaver N gauge kit. It trundled around Copenhagen Fields for hundreds of miles, but ‘failed to proceed’ a few shows ago. The chassis is a heavily worn Graham Farish 57XX block, fitted with the late Neil Ballantine’s plastic moulded fine-scale replacements and a Maxon motor with 1:4 gear box, driving the original worm set. However, it is the coupling rods that have worn the most. 

The holes had worn to be at least 50% bigger than they should be. They were  replaced by a new set made from 2mm Scale Association etches.

What is quite remarkable is that the new rods fitted without any adjustment. The engine now trundles up and down the test track with a slight ambling gait, but then it always has.

It will be good to have a work horse back in the traces for our next show at the NEC in November. Attention is now turned to making the York Road  station tube platform and hopefully another loop on the down goods line. 
 

Tim